I just killed Speckles. She was too sick to stand, and had wasted away to basically feathers and bones. Hasn’t eaten in days. We’re leaving our village tomorrow morning, and NOT killing her is just prolonging the inevitable… as well as burdening our neighbors with taking care of her, and having to tell us she died when we return. I went into the cornfield below our house and dug a hole, and we carried her down there.

I told Emily that I could just do it without her, even though it’s easier if you have someone to hold the body while the other person twists the head off. She said that this isn’t going to be the last time we’re ever going to have to do this, so she might as well get used to it. Turns out, the chicken was so ill that it didn’t even flap or squawk at all. Perhaps she was relieved to be put out of her misery.

As I piled the last hoeful of dirt on to the mound, I heard a peeping noise behind me. It was a hen I’d not seen before, leading a few chicks through the cornfield, looking for food. Wow. From death, life.